Articulating ornament

ABSTRACT

An articulating ornament is in the form of a sports figurine wherein the figurine is secured to a target surface via a post. The legs of the figurine move up and down and slightly forward and back to give the appearance that the figurine is running The arms of the figurine may also arc up and down to further the running illusion. The figurine holds a desired sports implement in one hand, which implement can be swapped out for a different implement. The figurine is capable of emitting light and sound outputs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sportsoriented articulating lawn ornament in a human form wherein the legs andpossibly the arms of the ornament articulate.

2. Background of the Prior Art

Many sports fans love to get behind their team and cheer them on tovictory, especially on game day. Fans show support for the team in manyways including planning game day parties, sometimes even inviting fansfrom the opposition. There is nothing more exciting than a house full ofexcited fans, possibly consuming refreshing adult beverages, cheering ontheir favorite team and rubbing it in to the opposition when the teammakes a great play. Additionally fans dress up in their team colorsincluding putting on team shirts, team hats and even face paint in teamcolors—some fans get even crazier such as covering their bodies in teamcolored glitter, men putting on women's dresses appropriate for thespecific game at hand, etc. Fans also like to dress out their house.Such house decorations typically involve placing one or more team flagsin an appropriate spot and hoping for a strong breeze to help the flagsfly. While flags show true team spirit, many fans want more than asingle or even multiple team flags adorning the outside of their houseas the flags may get overlooked, especially if the flags are not flyingdue to an absence of wind.

What is needed is a way for fans to dress up their house in order toshow team spirit in order to enhance the overall excitement of the biggame that is more robust than a team flag that may or not be flyingdepending on wind conditions. Specifically, a device is needed that isdynamic and that attracts attention to passersby irrespective of thewind conditions. Such a device must be elegant in design, yet relativelysimple in construction so as to be economically attractive to potentialconsumers for this type of product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The articulating ornament of the present invention addresses theaforementioned needs in the art by providing a figurine that can bedressed out in support of a favorite team, wherein the figurinearticulates at two or more points and potentially draws attention toitself in other ways. The articulating ornament is an attractive devicethat catches the attention of passersby without depending on windconditions. The articulating ornament is of relatively simple design andconstruction, being produced using standard manufacturing techniques, soas to make the device relatively inexpensive and thereby economicallyattractive to potential consumers for this type of product. Thearticulating ornament is versatile so that it can be used to showsupport for more than one team in more than one sport.

The articulating ornament of the present invention is comprised of afigurine that is in the form of a human having a torso with a head atopand a pair of legs attached to each side of the torso. The legsarticulate in an up and down motion. The torso also has a pair of armsattached to each side of the torso. A post is attached to a bottom ofthe torso and is used to secure the torso to a target surface, such asto the ground or a portable base. The legs also articulate in a back andforth motion while articulating in the up and down motion. The arms mayarticulate in an up and down arcing motion. At least one light may belocated on the figurine. The figurine may emit a sound track through aspeaker located on the figurine. The sound track may be recorded onto astorage device held within the figurine via a microphone located on thefigurine or may be downloaded onto the storage device held within thefigurine or both. A sports implement is removably secured to an end ofone of the arms. The motor may be electrically powered by a solarcollector seated atop the figurine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective environmental view of the articulating ornamentof the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side environmental view of the articulating ornamentillustrating the range of articulation of the external moving parts.

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded view of the articulating ornament.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the severalviews of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, it is seen that the articulating ornamentof the present invention, generally denoted by reference numeral 10, iscomprised of a figurine 12 that is in the form of a human, namely asports figure, such as the illustrated football player. As such, thefigurine has a torso 14, a pair of legs 16 that are pivotally attachedthe torso 14—one leg 16 positioned forward and one leg 16 positionedback to simulate running—and a pair of arms 18 that are either pivotally(as shown) attached to the torso 14—one arm up and one arm 18 down,again to give the appearance that the figurine 12 is running—or for amore simplified device, are fixedly attached to the torso 14. Of coursea head 20 is attached to the torso 14, which head 20 may be adorned witha helmet 22 as shown. The figurine 12 can be adorned in a favorite teamcolor scheme, including logos, numbers, a player's name or can berelatively neutral in order to be usable for more than one sport as morefully described below.

Extending downwardly from the bottom of the torso 14 is a post 24 whichmay be inserted into the ground G directly in some appropriate fashionknown in the art, such as sharpening the end of the post, putting anauger at the bottom of the post, etc., or the post 24 may be formed intwo sections, with the upper section 26 attached to the torso 14 and thelower section 28 secured into the ground G in appropriate fashion withthe upper section 26 removably receivable within the lower section 28and secured thereto in appropriate fashion such as via the illustratedset screw 30. A locking mechanism (not illustrated) may be provided tolock the upper section 26 to the lower section 28 to help prevent thearticulating ornament 10 from running away. By using a two-sectionground securement system, the lower section 28 may be semi-permanentlyinstalled into the ground G in prepositioned fashion such that the uppersection, and thus the figurine 12 proper, is attached to the lowersection 28 only when needed such as on game day. Of course, the post,whether as a single section post or the two section post illustrated,may be received within a base (not illustrated) or other appropriateholder so that the figurine 12 can be placed on a patio, indoors, etc.

A sports implement 32, such as the illustrated football, is removablyattachable to the end of one of the arms 18 of the figurine 12 inappropriate fashion such as via the illustrated bolt 34 and wing nut 36.By making the sports implement 32 removably attached to the arm 18,different sports implements can be attached to the figurine 12 dependingon which team is being supported on a given day. For example, asfootball season ends and baseball season gears up, the football can bereplaced with a baseball in very quick order—fans will gladly overlookthe fact that the articulating ornament 10 may possibly have the wronghelmet 22 for the sport being promoted. The torso 14 including the head20 and helmet 22 are made from two substantially similar halves that areremovably secured together in appropriate fashion for ease ofmanufacturing as well as to easily gain service access into the interiorof the figurine 12.

The legs 16 of the figurine 12 articulate up and down with a bit offorward motion as well. In order to achieve this articulation, a motor38 is disposed within the figurine 12, the motor 38 having anappropriate output shaft 40 driven by the motor 38. An eccentric gear 42is operatively coupled to the output shaft 40, the eccentric gear 42having an eccentric pin 44 thereon. An articulated eccentric rod 46 ispivotally coupled to the eccentric pin 44 so that as the motor 38operates, its output shaft 40 rotates which rotates the eccentric gear42, which causes the articulated eccentric rod 46 to move up and down asis known in the science of eccentric gear systems. Of course, othermethods can be used to translate the rotational output of the motor 38into linear movement of a rod. Connected to the distal end of theeccentric rod 46 is a connector hub 48. The connector hub 48 is receivedwithin a hub slot 50 located on the torso 14. The hub slot 50 isdimensioned to snugly hold the connector hub 48 and permit the connectorhub 48 to travel through its range of up and down movement within thehub slot 50. The connector hub 48 is also attached to a leg 16 of thefigurine 12 just forward of the pivotal attachment of the leg 16 to thetorso 14 proper. As such, as the connector hub 48 moves up and down inresponse to the eccentric gear system movement, the leg 16 moves up anddown at its point of attachment to the torso 14 proper, which causes theleg 16 to have a bit of forward motion as well, giving the illusion ofrunning The opposing leg 16 articulates in substantially similarfashion. Of course a single motor, gearably attached to two sets ofeccentric gear systems (or other rotational to linear translationsystems) can be used, however, due to the availability of inexpensivesmall motors, the use of two motors 38 simplifies the gearing system ofthe articulation subsystem of the articulating ornament 10. Electricpower for the motor 38 comes from batteries 52 located within the FIG.12 (a separate access panel (not illustrated) may be provided for easychange out of the batteries 52 without the need to disassemble thefigurine 12), which batteries 52 may be trickle charged by a small solarpanel 54 located on top of the figurine 12. Of course, the batteries 52may be rechargeable via an appropriate charging plug (not illustrated)which charging plug plugs into a typical 110 volt electric wall outletas is known. Such a system can also provide direct electric power to themotors 38 as is well known in the art with or without the use ofbatteries.

The arms 18 of the figurine 12 can be simply affixed to the figurine 12without movement, or the arms 18 can also articulate, as illustrated. Toprovide arm 18 movement a connector rod 56 connects to a secondconnector hub 58 located above the leg connector hub 48, which second orarm connector hub 58 is received within a second hub slot 60 located onthe torso 14 above the first hub slot 50, this arm hub slot 60 is alsodimensioned to snugly hold the arm connector hub 58 and permit theconnector hub 58 to travel through its range of up and down movementwithin the hub slot 60. The connector hub 58 is attached to an arm 18 ofthe figurine 12 just forward of the pivotal attachment of the arm 18 tothe torso 14 proper. As such, as the connector hub 58 moves up and downin response to the eccentric gear system movement via the connector rod56, the arm 18 arcs up and down at its point of attachment to the torso14 proper, which causes the arm 18 to have the illusion of running Theopposing arm 18 articulates in substantially similar manner.

Other optional features of the articulating ornament 10 include havinglights 62, such as the illustrated LEDs located on the figurine 12 inorder to attract further attention, especially at night. A speaker 64 islocated on the figurine 12 in order to output a desired sound. Suchsound can be recorded by a user via a microphone 66, or one or moresound tracks, such as a team fight song, can be preloaded or can bedownloaded and stored onto an appropriate storage device held within acontroller 68 within the figurine 12. Downloading a sound track can bein any appropriate fashion such as via a USB port 70. One or moreswitches 72 are provided and are used to control the various functions,including leg 16 and arm 18 articulation, the lights 62, sound recordingif such function is provided, sound track downloading if such functionis provide and sound track play.

In order to use the articulating ornament 10 of the present invention,the appropriate sports implement 32 is secured to an arm 18 of thefigurine 12 and the figurine 12 is secured to a target surface suchground surface G or to a base in appropriate fashion. The articulatingornament 10 is turned on via the switch 72. If provided, the lights 62can be activated and a sound track or sound tracks played as desired.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to an embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:
 1. An articulating ornament comprising: a figurine in the formof a human having a torso with a head atop and a pair of legs attachedto each side of the torso, the legs reciprocate in an up and down motionin response to an output of a motor, the torso also having a pair ofarms attached to each side of the torso; and a post extending downwardlyfrom a bottom of the torso.
 2. The articulating ornament as in claim 1wherein the legs also articulate in a back and forth motion whilearticulating in the up and down motion.
 3. The articulating ornament asin claim 2 wherein the arms articulate in an up and down arcing motionin response to the output of the motor.
 4. The articulating ornament asin claim 3 further comprising at least one light located on thefigurine.
 5. The articulating ornament as in claim 4 further comprisinga figure of a sports implement removably attached to an end of one ofthe arms.
 6. The articulating ornament as in claim 5 wherein the motoris electrically powered by a solar collector.
 7. The articulatingornament as in claim 6 wherein the figurine emits a sound track througha speaker located on the figurine.
 8. The articulating ornament as inclaim 7 wherein the sound track is recorded onto a storage device heldwithin the figurine via a microphone located on the figurine.
 9. Thearticulating ornament as in claim 7 wherein the sound track isdownloaded onto a storage device held within the figurine.
 10. Thearticulating ornament as in claim 1 wherein the arms articulate in an upand down arcing motion in response to the output of the motor.
 11. Thearticulating ornament as in claim 1 further comprising at least onelight located on the figurine.
 12. The articulating ornament as in claim1 wherein the figurine emits a sound track through a speaker located onthe figurine.
 13. The articulating ornament as in claim 10 wherein thesound track is recorded onto a storage device held within the figurinevia a microphone located on the figurine.
 14. The articulating ornamentas in claim 10 wherein the sound track is downloaded onto a storagedevice held within the figurine.
 15. The articulating ornament as inclaim 1 wherein the motor is electrically powered by a solar collector.